


Hvad er det, To be Triumphant?

by angelsandbrowncoats



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Soulmates, Underage Drinking, forget everything you thought you knew about their ages
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-31
Updated: 2015-05-31
Packaged: 2018-04-02 03:36:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4044367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelsandbrowncoats/pseuds/angelsandbrowncoats
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>High school rivals Matthias and Lukas are forced to see things from each other's point of view when they realize that they are soulmates. Neither one is happy about this arrangement, but Matthias is willing to try, considering he'd spent his entire life waiting for that moment. Lukas, on the other hand, needs a bit of prodding in the form of a deal. A deal that's a little illegal and more than a little risky, but one that Matthias' friends are willing to make for his sake.</p><p>(based on the oh-so-famous tumblr post about glowing hearts and jocks and nerds. The angle is a bit different, because neither one of these characters could truly bully the other. It just wouldn't work that way)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. High School Feuds

**Author's Note:**

> This work will be posted in segments. I will mark it as complete, because each segment could stand as a work in a series, but I'm just gonna keep adding them as I finish instead of trying to pass them off as separate fics. I also apologize for any mistakes I make in the characterization of Belgium & the Netherlands, as I don't know their characters that well.  
> And please correct me if I managed to screw up the three danish words in the title. It shouldn't be that hard, but I only started learning a month ago, so...
> 
> *Note: don't worry too much about Matthias' villainized behavior. I hate it when he's written like that, too, so it doesn't stay that way for long.

Lukas was seated on the corner of the concrete block upon which a statue of the school’s founder stood. It was his usual spot. As usual, he had a book in one hand, and a cup of coffee in the other.

And as usual, a looming shadow was approaching him.

“Hey freak,” the book was unceremoniously snatched out of his hands, “What’re you reading?”

“Fuck off, Matthias.”

“Ooh, you’re being feisty today,” the star player of at least four different sports smirked. Looking down at the book on quantum physics, his grin melted into a glare, “Trying to outdo me again? Want to make a fool out of me, do you?”

“I think you’ve got that covered well enough on your own.”

“What’d you just say to me?”

“Are your ears faulty now, too? Well, I guess we can just add that to the list of issues you have.”

Matthias swung his fist, knuckles connecting with the shorter boy’s face. Lukas swore once he realized he was going to get a black eye. He slid off the concrete and waited for Matthias to crowd him against it, as he always did, before bringing his knee up sharply, causing the other to double over in pain. He grabbed his tie and yanked his face down to the same level as his own, “This isn’t over, idiot.”

He then dodged around him and began walking away.

“It certainly isn’t, you emotionless freak of nature.”

“Repetitive.”

“Annoying.”

“Boring.”

“Excuse you?!” Matthias ran to catch up with the boy that had been returning insults over his shoulder, “I am anything but boring! Do you know how many teams I’m on? Clubs I’m in? And you have none, so who are you to talk?”

Lukas kept walking as he replied, “What do you do that isn’t organized by the school or anyone other than you?”

Matthias stared at him blankly.

“That’s what I thought. Boring.”

“you know what, you little shit, I’ll prove it to you. I’m more interesting than you.”

Lukas scoffed, “And how do you propose to do that?”

“I- I’ll- I’ll find my soulmate first!”

He stopped moving to laugh harder, “I don’t want to find my soulmate. Seriously, someone I’m expected to spend time with? Probably assumes that being soulmates means physical contact is okay? I have to put my life on hold to be with them? Bullshit. I hope I never find mine.”

“What the fuck? Who doesn’t want a soulmate? See this is what makes you a freak. I mean, just imagine- a person who works perfectly with you? Someone who will just love you for who you are, not who you have to be? It’d be heaven on earth,” the jock gushed. Lukas snorted again, “Good luck with that, Mr. ‘I’m so perfect, aren’t I?’”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that maybe if you paid less attention to looking and acting the way others want you to and more on developing a self to be, maybe people would like you ‘for who you are’ soulmates be damned.”

“Huh. Whatever, nerd. Ready for gym class?”

“Hmph.”

 ~     ~     ~

Matthias and Lukas glared at each other from across the locker room and all throughout the class. The taller “accidentally” hit the kickball into Lukas’ face and he in turn “accidentally” tripped Matthias between bases, despite being on the same team. But when Matthias tried to pick Lukas up by his hair and Lukas took the bat to the other boy’s shins, the teacher had no choice but to assign them both detention.

“Your behavior is frankly inexcusable. The two of you had better figure out your problems and fast. Køhler, you won’t want this affecting your games, and aren’t you on the debate team?”

He nodded, “And art, and drama, and band, and orchestra.”

“Right, well you certainly don’t need this on top of all that. And Bondevik- I’m sure there’s something more productive you could be doing. I’ve heard you’re quite exceptional in academics and orchestra. Why don’t you consider joining the science club or something else that will be beneficial to your future?”

“I prefer to teach myself in my spare time, thanks,” the small blond stated quietly. The teacher blinked, “Oh. Okay, then. Well, I don’t want to keep hearing about this fighting, understood?”

“Got it.”

“You bet.”

“I want you both to report to the locker room after school. You’ll be cleaning it,” he said.

“What?!”

“That’s disgusting.”

“As was your behavior. Don’t forget to get gloves from the office, unless you’d rather use your bare hands.”


	2. (Un)Fortunate? Occurrences

“This is all your fault,” Matthias snarled as they left orchestra together, it being the last class of the day.

“And how do you suppose that?” he asked, voice dripping with sarcasm. The dane shouldered him into the lockers on the side of the hallway, “You tripped me.”

“You hit me in the face. Twice in one day, I might add.”

“Yeah. well, there’s something off about you. You don’t want to spend time with anyone, you’re always vaguely annoyed, but you never really show emotions. And then, after doing literally nothing that counts for anything, you waltz right in here and get straight ‘A’s. And then you don’t even care. It pisses me off,” he ranted as they walked into the now deserted locker rooms that still had a heavy stench of sweat. In the excitement of his monologue, Matthias had slipped up and let some of his usual politeness in when he held the door open for his rival. Lukas frowned when he noticed, but said nothing.

“I don’t see how that gives you the right to beat me up.”

“It’s not like you don’t retaliate. You make it sound like it’s all me when we’re pretty even.”

“Yeah, well-”

“Holy shit, it’s hot in here! They must not have air conditioning this far down,” he whined, looking around, “Do you want the floor and walls, or the locker bays?”

“Asking for my opinion now, are we? I’ll take the lockers. I’m not sure I could reach all of the walls, especially in the bathroom and showers.”

“Didn’t need the reminder~” he gritted his teeth in disgust and went to get a mop. Lukas moved to the other side of the room, wiping down lockers as he went.

They worked in relative silence for a good half hour or so. Matthias had long since discarded his shirt in the sticky, sweaty heat of the room, going as far as to laugh at Lukas for not doing the same, “Too embarrassed, short stack, or does your heart do a sufficient job of keeping you nice and cold?”

“Haven’t I already told you to fuck off today?”

Matthias pouted and said, “But that was so long ago,” he paused as he watched Lukas trying to jump to reach a spot of dirt on the top locker with the rag. The sight was so very un-Lukas that he doubled over in a fit of honest-to-gods giggles, “Holy- I- Do y- D’you need any help with that?”

“I would have said so if I did,” replied the other, clearly unamused.

“Uh huh, I don’t think you would have. Pride and all that, you know. Here, I’ll do it, but just so we can leave, mind you,” he leapt on top of the concrete base of the bay and snatched the cloth from Lukas’ fingers, “Don’t think I’m doing this to be nice or-”

He stopped when he saw Lukas’ eyes widen and the boy took a step back, gaze fixed on his chest.

“Look, I know I’m spectacular, but is that really necessary?”

Lukas shook his head mutely and pointed. Matthias furrowed his brow at the other’s uncharacteristic behavior and looked down.

He gasped, almost falling off the base, only holding himself up by a (thankfully now clean) locker. He stared up slowly at Lukas, “Well?”

“No,” he said, panicked, shaking his head repeatedly, “No, no, no, no, no. This isn’t gonna happen.”

“Check.”

“No!”

“Goddammit, please?!”

Lukas made a pained face and slowly, ever so slowly, removed his own shirt. The two enemies breathed heavily as they stared at the faintly glowing light on each other’s chests that signified that they were soulmates.

“No,” Matthias whispered, “Please tell me this is some sort of joke.”

“I wish,” Lukas spat, “But unless it’s your joke, it’s not. I’m leaving. We finished cleaning anyways.”

“Wa-” Matthias called out, cutting himself off when he realized Lukas was already gone. He collapsed onto the block, head in his hands, trying not to cry. His soulmate had been his last hope. Now what?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost every story I read based off that prompt ends right about here and it pisses me off. So I didn't.


	3. The Bondevik Household

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emil is a little shit.

Lukas didn’t bother to stop at his locker on the way out. He walked as quickly as he could without running as he made his way through the empty school halls, past the parking lot, and to the nearest city bus stop. 

It was near the time he typically left, often staying after to read in the library, so he was familiar with the bus driver when it finally arrived. The man gave him a sympathetic look when he saw his distraught face, assuming it was something to do with his family. 

The Bondevik household was notorious to anyone who ran routes through or lived in his neighborhood. His mother was perhaps the loudest, most opinionated woman on the street, with a hobby of leaning out of her window to criticize the people around her. She had been married to his father, divorced him, didn’t kick him out, and then had two more relationships with him. Both resulted in more children. The first was his younger brother, Emil- now an eighth grader. The second time it was twins. She decided they didn’t have any more room in the house and put them both up for adoption.

Both older brothers never forgave her for one simple reason- they were adopted by separate households. One, the Vainamoinens, kept contact, and they were able to see one of their little brothers twice a month. The other was a collection of adopted children in a different continent. Emil liked to blame Lukas for not doing more to keep them together, but the eldest had no more say than he did. 

The four of them lived together in one bedroom apartment. The bedroom belonged solely to their mother, with their father having claimed the smaller closet/room. That left the two brothers to share the living room. Which was doubly a problem, as both loved their isolation. They’d taken to taking turns as to who got to be home and who had to stay out each night, so that they could get some blessed time to themselves. 

He stormed up the two flights of stairs to their place, slamming the few books he had on him onto the table and grabbing one of his father’s beers out of the fridge.

Emil walked around the corner, frowning, and said, “You’re supposed to be out tonight. And you’re not supposed to be drinking that.”

“Yeah, well, I deserve it. Don’t you dare tell them, either,” he sighed, too worn out to truly argue. Emil raised an eyebrow, “That would depend on whether or not you leave today and let me be the one staying home again tomorrow.”

“Are you trying to bargain for your silence?”

“What does it look like I’m doing?”

“Ugh, fine, just,” he gestured to nothing in particular with the drink as he walked back to the door, “do yourself a favor and never find your soulmate, okay?”

“What?” Emil suddenly stepped between Lukas and the door, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, I’m smellin’ a story here. No way do you get to leave with vague mutterings like that. You’re going to sit down on that couch and tell me what the fuck happened to you.”

“And why would I do that?”

“Please?”

“No.”

“Please, brother?”

Lukas stared amusedly at him, “Really? I’ve been trying to get you to call me that for what, eight years? and now that you want something out of me you just magically have no qualms with that?”

“C’mon… it can’t be that bad, can it?”

“You’ve heard about Matthias, right?”

“The kid who likes to show up to make fun of you and when you do it back he punches you and then you hit him and this happens pretty much every day? Yeah, wait are you getting a black eye?”

Lukas reached up and touched his face, “Yes, I’d forgotten about that. That was him again.”

“So, what about him?”

“Well, we got detention, right?”

“‘k.”

“And they fucking made us clean the locker room-”

“Ew.”

“-I know, but then this moron takes his goddamn shirt off, and long story short-”

“Oh my god, you guys are soulmates, aren’t you?” Emil clapped his hands together grinning like a maniac.

“Don’t talk to me about it.”

“Oh, this is better than Christmas! This is so much worse that I ever imagined, this is magnificent! This is- hey, where are you going?”

“OUT! Y’know, like you demanded I do.”

“Yeah, but, that was before I knew about all the fun I could have if-”

“I’m glad my life amuses you so,” Lukas bit out before slamming the door and going back down to the first floor. He stood there for a moment, thinking, before he decided to walk to the park. 

The park was huge. It started in a suburban neighborhood, wound all the way through the broken apartments where the Bondeviks lived, and up into the richest part of town. All along it were playgrounds, campsites, a fishing lake, and multiple sports fields. But in between them were the lovely, peaceful woods that Lukas loved. He longed for a real forest, where he could wander for days without signs of civilization, but there was no such thing in this town.

He meandered along the path, stopping every once in awhile to admire a stream or a tree that stood out, or to watch the red-winged blackbirds swooping across the tall grasses. 

He hadn’t been lying when he told Matthias he never wanted to find his soulmate. This was  _ exactly  _ the sort of thing he’d feared. He and Matthias hated each other. That was just how it was. Matthias had some sort of a grudge over the fact that Lukas  _ didn’t  _ break his back trying to do what other people expected of him and Lukas hated having his silence disturbed. 

What part of that said they worked perfectly together? What part of their arrangement was even remotely close to ‘soulmates’?

It was a load of hooey, the lot of it. And he wouldn’t have it. 

But he had a bad,  _ bad _ feeling that Matthias would not be quite so willing to let it drop. His attachment to the romanticism of the idea would have been laughable. It was, until Lukas realized he was the one on the other end of the kid’s lifelong obsession.

He smiled as he imagined Matthias’ reaction to being called a kid (“I’m seventeen, damn it! And I’m taller than you!”) before he realized what he was doing and quickly frowned again. Nope. It  _ wasn’t _ going to happen. And it certainly hadn’t been leading up to this. Not. At. All.

Looking around to make sure he was alone, he took the beer back out of his coat and took another drink. Ah, sweet denial.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for how many retellings are in this fic, but I try to sneak new information into each to make it a bit more interesting.


	4. The Køhler Residence

Matthias washed his hands and face in the sink in the bathroom he had just mopped. Lucky for him, today was just drama club.

Well, when he says lucky…

Drama club was usually his favorite day of the week. Art club met on Tuesdays and Thursdays during lunch. He loved those days too, but drama was probably his favorite. He found it ironic that he only felt like himself when he was pretending to be other people. But that was just the way it was.

He was lucky because his parents didn’t see the value in the arts and wouldn’t be mad at him for missing it for detention. Besides, he could still show up for the last half hour.

Why did Lukas have to be like that? Matthias couldn’t understand it. He was doing everything his parents wanted him to, everything the school wanted him to, he was the _perfect_ student.

And he hated every-fucking-thing he was doing. He enjoyed sports and debate, don’t get him wrong, but he didn’t enjoy them enough for a career in either. But no, he was supposed to go to college and play on at least one team, get a degree in politics, and take over the position of mayor for his father’s friend. Originally they had wanted him to be a lawyer like his father or a surgeon like his mother, but both required a demeanor he just didn’t have.

Then, one night, they were having dinner with a family friend, who just so happened to be the mayor. He suggested that Matthias would be perfect for following in his footsteps, or perhaps go into business if he was better with numbers. Both were great jobs for a ‘people’ person like him, the man said.

And so, at the age of nine, it was decided which college he would attend and for what. His parents never asked him a word, just cashed in a few favors with other family friends and then held it over his head as him being ‘ungrateful’ if he ever spoke against it.

That was around the time he first met Lukas. He’d been writing a note with the intent to run away, and the other boy had read it over his shoulder, informing him that, “He should be glad he wasn’t living in the middle ages, or else he might have been sent off to be a page at the age of seven.”

Caught up in the emotions of the past few days, Matthias’ first reaction had been to pummel him. Lukas fought back, tooth and nail. And it had been as quick as that, they established each other as enemies and fought every chance they got for eight years.

Lukas had beaten him repeatedly when they were younger by combining cunning and skill, but with his growth spurt in the ninth grade, Matthias had gained the upper hand.

 ~     ~     ~

In the present, Matthias made his way to the theatre where he knew his few real friends were waiting.

“Heyy, Mat! Where’ve you been?” the school’s resident stoner drawled when he walked in, despite not being stoned at present. Jens was usually either as high strung as they get or totally laid back when he wasn’t high, and the difference was almost always the presence of his sister.

“More importantly,” Manon cut in, “Why do you look like a puppy who was literally kicked out into bad weather?”

Matthias managed to give a small smile, “Is it that obvious?”

“Yes,” Jens affirmed, and Matthias actually paid attention. Manon was uncannily observant about other people’s emotions. Jens… not so much.

“Well, let’s just say, today is officially the worst day of my life.”

Manon patted him on the shoulder in sympathy, “I’m sure it’s not as a bad as it seems right now. Why don’t you go take a seat, we’re basically done anyway. We can talk once the others leave. I’ll go get you something to drink from the vending machine. What would you like?”

“I’d really love a nice danish beer, but lemme guess they don’t have those.”

“I doubt it,” she laughed lightly, “I think you need an energy drink. Sound good?”

“Alright, alright.”

“Hey, can you get me something too?” Jens asked. She raised an eyebrow, “You don’t need one.”

“Yeah, but it would save me money!”

“No it wouldn’t, I’m using your wallet.”

“What?!”

“You know you love me~” she sang, ducking past him and out the door.

“...”

Matthias collapsed again, this time into one of the comfy chairs in the drama department, beside his friend of four years.

“So?” Jens prompted.

“What?”

“So what happened?”

Matthias shook his head, “I think, for once, this is the sort of problem your sister would actually be better to talk to about.”

“So nothing illegal?”

“Wha-? No! I… It’s… Ugh! Why? Why is everything so wrong? Why does the world hate me? Why does _he_ have to hate me?”

“Wait-”

“He who?” Manon asked, dropping into the chair across from him and handing him a bottle of some uncomfortably bright blue liquid, tossing the wallet back to her brother.

He pouted and opened it, counting the bills inside. Jens looked up, “Ahem. Sister.”

“Yes, brother dear?” she asked innocently.

“I have a sneaking suspicion that Mat’s drink didn’t cost fifteen dollars and seventy two cents.”

“Oh my god, how do you have it down to the exact penny?” she complained, throwing back the cash she had tried to snag, “Why can’t I have a brother who has no idea how much he has on him?”

“Well you don’t, but maybe if you’d stop trying to rob me, I’d be more lenient about spontaneously buying the things you ask for.”

“Do you mean it?” she sat up excitedly. He sighed in exasperation, “We’ll see. Or maybe you could just get yourself a job.”

“I tried! You made me quit.”

“Did you even see the uniform they wanted you to wear? Or the way your boss was looking at you when you put it on? No, no and hell no! I will not have creepy, middle-aged strangers drooling over my baby sister,” he ranted. She rolled her eyes, “Maybe you should get Basch to shoot them while you’re at it. I hear he has a similar mindset.”

“Maybe I should,” he crossed his arms, glaring at a spot on the wall behind her. She shook her head at him, “You honestly think I’m dumb enough to let anybody do anything to me that I don’t want them to?”

“No, that’s not-”

“In any case, we’re supposed to be talking about Matthias,” she turned to him, “Well, let’s hear it then. Better to get it all out.”

He took a deep breath and nodded, “Okay. First, some of my teammates were complaining about you guys again, and the amount of time I spend on “art and shit”, so I was already in a bad mood. And then Lukas and I started fighting again-”

“Again? Mat, I thought you promised to work on that,” she chastised.

“I know, I know, but it’s so much easier to take out my anger on somebody like him. He doesn’t get mad the way most people do, and he fights back so… so it’s not like I’m _that_ bad, right? Besides, sometimes getting hit snaps me out of it…” he rambled, trying to explain. She shook her head, “It’s not gonna end well.”

“Oh, it already ‘didn’t end well’,” he growled, and they both jumped, “Sorry, sorry. But, we get detention, right? You were there,” he nodded at Jens, who thought about it for a second before the recognition showed on his face, “That’s right!”

“So we both show up to clean the locker rooms and it’s all sticky and gross and I’m sweating buckets, so I take off my shirt. I mean it’s a locker room, it’s not that weird, is it? But anyways, we’re almost done, but he can’t reach this one spot ‘cause he’s so short, and I just wanna get out of there, so I go to get it, and- and- and-”

Manon looked him straight in the eyes, “Remember to breathe, okay? You get the spot and what?”

“And he starts staring at me all funny, and I look down, and my chest is frikin’ glowing. It’s him, Manon, it’s Lukas.”

Both of his friends were staring at him, neither one quite comprehending.

“Oh my,” she breathed, “That… That’s really something else, Mat. I can’t… It was the two of you, all this time? That’s amazing.”

“Don’t make this all gooey, this is serious!” he snapped, “My soulmate hates me and I kinda sorta hate him back.”

“Sorry, sorry, so what’re you gonna do about it?”

“What am I gonna do about it?” he repeated, “Umm… I have no idea. Help?”

Jens snorted, “Yep, you were right. I got nothin’. Sis?”

“Well, let’s start with the first step. Do you want to repair your relationship and try to see if you would work well together?”

“I don’t think that could happen.”

“That’s not what I asked,” she said, “Do you _want_ to?”

“Of course I want to be with my soulmate, it’s just… not him?”

“But it is. And now you have to deal with it. So what is the main reason why you think you can’t?”

“He hates me.”

“Not you hate him?” she asked.

“No, I- I could get over it, I think.”

“So why does he hate you?”

“Hell if I know!”

She shook her head, “Yes you do. I’ve seen the two of you. You usually provoke him, don’t you?”

“Yeah, but-”

“No. Would he hate you if you didn’t do that?”

“I dunno!” he whined, “Why couldn’t this be simple? It was the one thing I had left, the one thing my parents couldn’t determine for me, and it goes and picks _him_. I hate everything.”

She gave him another small smile, “I guess you’ll just have to try harder than you thought you would. Make him see you’re sorry you picked fights with him. Make him see you’re willing to try. And if he still says no, maybe I can convince him via his brother.”

“What about his brother?” Jens jumped in. Manon gave him a look, “Emil? Lukas’ younger brother? You do know he’s only a year younger than me, right? We both attend the same baking class. I’ve been friends with him for years.”

“Why didn’t I know this?”

“Because you weren’t paying attention?”

“I pay attention when you tell me stuff! You never told me about that!”

“I didn’t say I told you. You never asked. But you could have noticed before, y’know. It’s not like he hides or anything,” she said, trying and failing to hold back a grin.

“Yeah well, he better, he better know where the line is and never to cross it, or… Maybe I should talk to him… Maybe-.”

“Maybe you should have a little more faith in people?” she suggested. Jens glared at her, “Fine, but if I suspect anything…”

“Uh-huh. Fire and brimstone will rain from the skies.”

“Well if Emil is anything like Lukas, I seriously doubt he’d ever do anything. Not his style,” Matthias offered. Jens shifted his glare to his friend, “Not you too?”

“You’re just overreacting is all,” Manon laughed, “We’re not even dating. Not that it’s not a possibility, but it’s not happening right now, so you can worry about it if and when it happens. How’s that, brother?”

“Fine.”

 ~    ~    ~

Matthias drove himself home in the car his parents had bought him after winning a championship last year. It bothered him a bit that everything he had came from them, because it made it seem like he really ought to do what they told him. He owed them.

Walking inside, he wasn’t even remotely surprised to see that no one was home. They always made it home in time for a family dinner-served by their private chef.

He went upstairs to his room, shutting the door to keep out any unwanted distractions that might arise from his family getting back, especially if they brought over colleagues again. That was a common occurrence, and Matthias wasn’t sure if he could deal with it just now.

Instead, he began his afternoon routine of finishing his homework as fast as possible and then rotating between staring blankly at the ceiling and sketching the things that he was thinking about. Often times he sketched dogs, having always wanted one. His parents, usually so quick to buy him the things he wanted if he achieved the goals they wanted, did not want to deal with the consequences of another living being in the house. Sometimes he sketched places from his dreams, the future he wished for himself. Other times he would sketch Jens and Manon, or some of his other friends, like Gilbert and Alfred.

Today, though, no matter what he began drawing, he always ended on the same face. No one should be surprised to find it was Lukas. Not even Matthias could fake confusion. He thought about what Manon had told him. Could he really get Lukas to see that he was ready to change his violent behavior? And was he, was he really? What would he do now when his anger got out of control? Who would he take it out on, if not Lukas?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I'm basing a lot of the setting and characters off of combinations of people and places I know in real life, so if anything doesn't seem realistic to you, I'm gonna tell you right now that this is very similar to my own town, no matter how ridiculous it might sound.


	5. In the Park

He heard the bell ring, signaling dinner was served, and he sighed. He would never hear the end of it if he skipped, so he figured he might as well go and get some food. It wasn’t like anyone would notice or make him explain why he looked the way he did.

And he was right. He took his spot at the table that was far too large for only three people and ate whatever was in front of him. His parents carried on the conversation without ever once including him in anything.

When he was excused, he went outside, wondering what he should do. He was supposed to be training for something, but he didn’t really feel like it. Jogging, perhaps? That was usually pretty good at clearing his mind. So he went down to the path, running with little heed to his surroundings.

He could make this work, couldn’t he? He was great at making friends, after all. He _was_ a people person. And if his previous experiences were anything to go by, he was, apparently, somewhat charming. So he had something going for him, right? He had a shot?

But then, weren’t those the very qualities that had sparked the hatred between them in the first place? He despised the fact that the other wasn’t held back the same way he was, and Lukas… well, he wasn’t quite sure what Lukas was thinking. If he did, that would have made things a lot easier.

Speaking of Lukas, Matthias halted abruptly in his tracks. That was him, wasn’t it? Sitting on a bench in the cover of the trees… drinking beer? Maybe he wasn’t so bad after all.

It took him a moment to decide whether or not to approach him, but curiosity won out.

“We might be more alike than we think,” he said quietly, sitting beside him on the bench. Lukas jumped turning to stare at him, eyes wide. Matthias glanced over at him with half a smirk, “I mean, we went to the same place, we had the same thought for the best cure,” he nodded at the bottle in the other’s hand, “I just wasn’t sure how to go about getting it. I can’t buy alcohol, and my parents certainly don’t have any where I can find it. But who would I trust to not ask questions?”

Lukas said nothing, watching him closely. Matthias continued when it seemed like he wasn’t going to add anything to the conversation, “So what have you decided, now that we’ve had time to process this shit?”

The shorter boy looked away, frowning. He was quiet for a moment before he spoke in a hoarse voice, sounding like he either hadn’t used it for hours, or he’d been shouting and crying. Knowing him, Matthias suspected it was the former, but he couldn’t help but hope it _wasn’t_ the latter. Lukas didn’t deserve to deal with that sort of thing just because of his anger issues. His voice was barely more than a whisper as he talked, “I don’t know. You’re the one who beat me up.”

“I… I’m sorry,” he stopped himself from trying to defend that Lukas fought him too. If he wanted to change anything, he had to listen to Manon and try not arguing for once.

Lukas looked up sharply, “You- what?”

“I said I’m sorry. I get really angry a lot and the fact that you’d actually fight me back helped me get it out more than I think I ever wanted to admit. It wasn’t your fault, and you shouldn’t have had to put up with it,” he explained. Lukas was watching him again, this time with a light in his eyes. He was thinking about something, but Matthias didn’t dare ask what.

“So, do you, I dunno, want to go do something?” he asked hesitantly. Lukas snorted, “No.”

“Oh, nevermind then.”

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t, I just said I didn’t want to,” he shot back.

“What?” Matthias raised an eyebrow. Lukas sighed, “It’s not like I have anything better to do. My brother’s silence about this,” he fiddled with the beer, “was bought with the promise that I would let him be the one who gets to stay home today and tomorrow.”

“I don’t get,” the taller boy stared down at him. Lukas rolled his eyes, “Well, my brother and I have to share the living room as our bedroom, and while both parents are gone pretty much until eight, it still gets annoying to have to share your room with someone else. So we take turns with who has to stay out until eleven each night.”

“So what you’re saying is, not only do you not have your own room, it’s not even a bedroom?” he asked incredulously. Lukas nodded, “Pretty much.”

“That sucks.”

“Tell me about it.”

“And you’re only agreeing to go somewhere with me so that you’ll have something to occupy your time when you’re not allowed to be at your house?” he questioned, trying not to sound too hurt about it. It’s not like he didn’t deserve it.

“It’s an apartment, but apart from that, yes.”

“Oh. Alright, well, what do you normally do?”

Lukas shrugged, “Sit here.”

“For hours?!”

“Yeah? You have a problem with that?”

“Umm, no, it’s just, don’t you get bored?”

“No.”

“Right. But like is there somewhere you’d want to go?”

“You suggested it,” Lukas reminded him, “Why don’t you decide?”

Matthias was taken aback. What on earth was up with him? He should have expected it by now, but he didn’t. So he stood up, looked around, and said, “What about ice cream? It’s still way too warm, even now that it’s gotten dark.”

“Sure.”

 ~     ~     ~

Matthias had easily had enough cash in his pocket to cover two large waffle cones of some of the strangest ice cream flavor combinations. He had gotten himself a combination of rocky road, s’more, and moose tracks. Lukas had mint chocolate chip, peanut butter, and chocolate with brownies. They were sitting on a wall along the path in the park, overlooking the river.

They ate in silence, until Lukas looked up at one of the passing ships, “What do you suppose it would’ve been like on one of those old steamboats?”

“You mean like the one they have at the museum?”

“I don’t know, you think I have enough money to go to museums?”

Matthias thought about it, “Do you want to? I have plenty of money, but I can usually get in for cheap or free, ‘cause the guy who owns it knows my family and all that crap. I could probably get us in after hours, even, have a private tour or something.”

“Really?”

“Easily. You said you had to stay out tomorrow, too, right?”

“Yeah?”

“Wanna go?”

“Hmph. I suppose.”

“You haven’t got anything better to do, is that it?” he grinned. Lukas glared at him, “Damn right.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lukas' ice cream choices were based off my own, I'll admit. I was gonna say Matthias had Mississippi Mud, but then I couldn't remember if that's just a thing along the river, or if people in other places have it too, so I changed it. If someone who doesn't live by the Mississippi River could please clear that up with me, that'd be great?  
> And while I'm basing the town off my town, the museum they're talking about is based off of the Dubuque River Museum and Aquarium (or whatever it's called). They have otters, so I love it.


	6. Repercussions and Not-so-underhanded Deals

Emil had been waiting up to catch Lukas on his way back in, but the older refused to discuss the matter further, pretending to fall asleep almost instantly. His brother knew he was faking it, but he eventually gave up after failing to get a response for what had to be the thirtieth time, adding that, “I’ll get it out of you eventually.”

Lukas hurried to leave before his brother woke up that morning so that he wouldn’t have to face him for at least one more day. But that didn’t mean he had any less problems.

His first class of the day was history, which caused no problems for him. He was largely ignored in that class and did very well. Nothing to worry about, and no people to bother him.

Then there was english. Once again, not a problem. One of the girls, Eliza, was giving him a weirdly excited look, but he paid her no mind. She was known as the scariest girl in the school for two reasons- her strength and her stalking. He wouldn’t be remotely surprised if she already knew about Matthias and him and just prayed to the gods that she kept quiet. He wasn’t ready for that aftermath yet.

His next class was sewing, something that he found extremely useful, considering no one in his family could do it, nor did they have the money for new clothes. Normally he sat in the back by himself, like he did in most of his classes. This time, however, a smaller girl- a freshman, he was pretty sure, sat beside him. She had wavy blond hair that was cut somewhat short and a dazzling smile that he wasn’t buying.

“Yes?”

“What?” she asked innocently.

“Let me guess… you know Matthias?”

“Whyever would you think that?”

“Uh-huh, cut the- wait, don’t I know you?”

Her grin grew, “So you’re more observant than my brother, then? Yeah, I’m friends with Emil.”

“Didn’t know he had friends,” he muttered. She laughed, “Of course he has friends. He has some similarities to you, but that’s not one of them, for all he pretends to be alone. There’s a whole group of us, you know.”

“Seriously?”

“Yep. There’s Emil and myself, and then there’s Matthew, twin brother of the school’s darling quarterback? He’s the oldest of our group, but Emil’s the mom of the group.”

“He’s the what?”

“Every group has a mom. You’d think it’d be me, seeing as I always give everybody sweets and hugs, but no, I’m too mischievous. Who else? There’s the kid from that huge family that moved here from China. And Basch’s younger sister, Lili. Don’t tell him that, if you know him, though. He only knows about me, and none of us want to see the fit he’d throw if he knew there were, god forbid, _boys_ within two miles of her. Which is ironic, of course, because she’s starting to question whether or not she’s pan, making all of his meticulous plans crumble,” she took a huge breath and Lukas really didn’t know how she could say so much so fast, “Well that’s not what I’m here to talk to you about. I do, in fact, know Matthias. I don’t see him until fifth block, though, so I thought I’d ask you first.”

“Would you reconsider?” he asked in a dry tone.

“No. First I’d like to inform you that he showed up late to drama yesterday with one of the saddest kicked puppy faces I’ve ever seen. He totally fails at hiding the fact that he’s been crying, did you know? Yeah, well, I don’t know what your thoughts on the matter are, but I think you ought to know just how much this thing means to him.”

“Trust me, he’s told me.”

“Has he? I doubt he’s told you the full extent. But you’ll see it soon enough if you start to spend time with him. So, what _are_ your thoughts on the matter?”

Lukas blinked, “I’m not sure. I told him before we knew that I never wanted to find my soulmate and I gave a long list of reasons. Those reasons all still apply. Beyond that, I’m not just going to forgive him for what he’s done in all these years because of fate or some shit. I know he’s trying and I know he’s attached to the idea, but he’s going to have to try a lot harder if he wants me to actually change how I see him.”

“Hmm,” she tapped her chin, “I see where you’re coming from, but I think it does require a little effort on your part, too.”

“Oh?”

“Well for starters, I know you did a good bit of goading yourself. But aside from that, he won’t ever be able to try hard enough if you’re determined that you won’t accept anything he does. At least try to see things from his point of view, and I’ll try to get him to see things from yours. Deal?”

“Perhaps.”

“Not good enough.”

“Well then,” he gave her one of his signature piercing stares, “You’re going to have to give me a better reason to agree.”

She pouted, “My brother is better at that.”

“Attempting to appear cute will get you no where,” he informed her, “and it isn’t money I’m after either.”

“Then what?”

“How good are you at networking?”

Manon furrowed her eyebrows, “Why?”

“I need you to find someone for me. Someone who is very far away, whose ‘parents’ would stop at nothing to stop me from reaching him.”

“Oh. My. God,” she gasped, “You want me to find Eduard, don’t you?”

“You’re bright,” he admitted, “That is exactly what I want you to do. I want you to find Eduard, and arrange a way for Emil, Tino, and I to meet him. Neither set of parents need be part of the deal.”

“And if I do this, you’ll try and work things out with Matthias?”

“I will. And when I try, I succeed.”

“Then I’ll do it. I promise,” she nodded in excitement. He returned the motion with a short nod of his own, “I promise to uphold my end of the bargain as well.”

She turned to go but stopped when he called out, “Oh, and one more thing.”

“Yes?”

“Do not, under any circumstances, breathe a _word_ of this to Emil.”

Manon’s blindingly bright smile returned, “Of course not. And you know, he talks about you a lot.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. He may pretend not to, but he actually does look up to you a lot.”

“Oh. Thank you?”

“No problem,” she winked and left to continue working on her own project. Lukas looked down at the fabric in his hands, the dress shirt he would need for interviews and auditions if he ever wanted to start making the money he needed, and pondered what she’d told him. Perhaps she was right, and he ought to put in some effort of his own. But then, that was still ignoring his own, original issues with the soulmate system.

 ~    ~    ~

When the bell rang for lunch, he put his project back on his shelf and walked down slower than the maniacs who always seemed to be starved despite eating in class even when they weren’t supposed to. He picked up the school issued lunches for people whose parents couldn’t afford lunch fees and returned to his favorite concrete block, taking out yet another library book. He read as he munched on the bland, barely edible food in the brown paper bag that marked him as poor, detesting every minute of it. The books made it better, a bit. Sometimes it was by learning things that he knew could place him above those that looked down upon him. Sometimes it was pure escapism. Either way, it ended the moment he set the thing down.

Every day he brought just enough money to buy a paper cup of mediocre coffee to accompany his lunch. And so it was that this day found Lukas in exactly the same position he was in the prior one, when Matthias had approached him, as if nothing had changed.

Yet, in the most cliche way possible, _everything_ had changed.

Matthias stood a little ways off, watching him, although he didn’t know it. He contemplated going over to him. On the one hand, he kinda wanted to and it kinda looked like Lukas needed it. On the other hand, his friends would notice and he’d have to explain it to them, and he _was_ a little scared of what Lukas might do to him.

In the end, curiosity won out. No pain, no gain, right?

He ignored the odd looks Alfred, Gilbert, and the rest of the jocks sent his way, in favor of heading straight for the small norwegian junior.

Sitting down on the block next to him, he said nothing, merely began eating. It was Lukas who made the first attempt at communication, “Is this getting to be a habit?”

“Maybe,” he offered one of his infamous, overly cheerful grins. Lukas shook his head, “I don’t know what you’re expecting to get out of it.”

“I dunno, but I figure I’ll get at least something this way. Nothing comes from nothing, nothing ever can, you know.”

“Did you just quote a song from the Sound of Music at me?”

“Told you I was in drama, didn’t I? Wish I could go into it as a career, but my parents would disown me,” he sighed dejectedly. Lukas raised an eyebrow, “Why not let them?”

Matthias scoffed, “Clearly you don’t know my parents. They wouldn’t let it go down without a fight, and never once in seventeen years have I won a fight with them. It’s best to just go along with whatever they say and try to work around it.”

“Sounds like bullshit.”

“You know what’s bullshit? You’re the kid with the school brown-bag lunch and the troubled household, and you have life on a fucking leash. How d’you do it?”

“By saying ‘fuck you’ to everyone, probably.”

“Heh, that’s the dream, isn’t it?”

“Maybe it’s a dream for you. For me, it’s my reality. It’s the only way I can live with all the fucked up things around me. But it makes sense, if you really think about it. You’re so-called perfect life is just a prison where the walls are painted like a palace. My so-called awful life may be a junkyard of sorts, but there are no walls anywhere. Not ones that can contain me, and probably not any that keep out the cold and critters, either,” he mused. Matthias nodded, “It does make sense. Society is a bit of a trap, isn’t it?”

“Mm.”

“I mean, they entice you forward with all the bait you could possibly want- money, fame, cars, houses, well-to-do jobs, and fancy titles. But the more of it you take, the further into the box you go, until you can’t get out anymore. You’re just there to serve whatever it is they ask of you, and your only way out is to become like them. And it kills whatever soul you have left to do it, but what choice do you have?”

Lukas gave a cynical laugh, “So you do have a philosophical side after all. It’s good to know there’s at least one part of you I can stand.”

Matthias opened his mouth with a smirk and then shut it, returning to the serious mode he was in before, “This isn’t the time for a dick joke, is it?”

“No, it isn’t,” Lukas affirmed.

“Okay, nevermind then.”

“I won’t.”

 ~    ~    ~

Gym passed uneventfully, for which both parties were thankful.

‘Uneventful’ if you don’t count Lukas walking past Jens and whispering, “Your sister is quite something, isn’t she?” and then pretending not to notice when he freaked out.

When the class was over, he was making his way to his next class when he found himself grabbed by the shirt and slammed into a locker. Ah, of course. As Matthias had noted, when Jens was neither high nor in the presence of his sister, he was incredibly high strung.

“What the fuck did you mean by that?”

“Chill out.”

“Like hell! Now explain!”

He felt a hand on his shoulder and whirled around to see Manon, “Calm down, bro. You know he was joking. He has Matthias after all-”

“I do not!”

“-and we were talking business and life advice.”

“Oh.”

“And about the business, I’m gonna need your help. I can tell him, right?”

Lukas thought for a moment before nodding, “But I suggest you don’t tell Matthias. He has a bad habit of talking when he’s nervous. I don’t want Emil finding out.”

“You got it.”

“What is it with Emil again?”

“That’s not your concern. Your concern is going to be getting five plane tickets to whatever country I say, no matter how far away it is, and playing the part of our father better than he could himself.”

Jens blinked repeatedly at her, “Say again?”

“I’ll explain the finer points later, brother. For now, all you’ve gotta know is this: we’re on a mission from god.”

“Am I god now? Awesome,” Lukas deadpanned. Manon made a face at him before ushering her brother off, “C’mon, we’ve got some planning to do.”

He turned back to the math class he was going to, relieved when he finally fell into his chair. Math was a nice, relaxing class. Sure, it could be tricky, but the thing about math was that there was a definite right answer. Definites could be nice in such a chaotic world.

His relief was quickly replaced with irritation when the two people he had been hoping to avoid most swung into the seats in front of and to the side of his.

“So,” the quarterback began, “What exactly is up between you and our friend?”

Gilbert gave the best shit-eating grin he could, “Not trying to bother you, but we’ve gotta get the answer for out bet. This jackass is gonna owe me twenty bucks in a few minutes.”

“I’m curious as to how, if you insist on talking to me. You ought to ask Matthias, as he might actually care about whether you should be in the know. I, on the other hand, couldn’t care less about you or your bet. Now kindly go away and leave me in peace,” he replied.

“Mmm, no,” Gilbert gestured vaguely in the direction of training field, “See, we don’t think he would take too kindly to us betting on his life, and while he couldn’t take the awesome me, I’d probably still be battered a bit, and I don’t wanna see that happen. I’m far too pretty.”

“Uh huh. Says who, exactly?”

“Well myself, for starters. Oh, and Al here’s twin brother.”

“Wait what?!” Alfred turned to look at his friend, “What about Mattie?”

“Didn’t you hear? Sweet little birdie and I have been going steady for two weeks now.”

“Why don’t I know about this?” he demanded.

“I dunno, it never came up?” Gilbert shrugged, opening a package of cookies, “Want one?”

“No! Well, yes, but first I want to know when this happened and how and-”

“Calm yourself, wonder boy. One question at a time.”

“How did you two even meet?”

“We work at the pet store together, and he’s always at the parties at your house, and at the games, and honestly I’m surprised we didn’t meet sooner.”

Lukas grumbled to himself as they continued talking around him. If they were done bothering him, couldn’t they go have this conversation elsewhere? He had work to do, and he couldn’t exactly do it with them sitting there, yapping away like a bunch of chipmunks or a flock of geese.

 ~    ~    ~

Finally it was the last class of the day, his favorite by far, orchestra. Lukas was the first chair of the first violins, only barely beating Roderich Edelstein because the school legend in the music department had spent more time practicing for a piano recital than school auditions.

Matthias was on the other end of the room, having played the cello for years but having switched to the bass at the end of middle school. Lukas thought back on what Manon had said about Emil looking up to him, and wondered if that had influenced his brother’s decision to play the viola. He could have easily played in band if he really wanted to separate himself from Lukas. Matthias was in the band, too, wasn’t he? Second trombone, he wanted to say.

Lukas was rather proud of their orchestra, if he did say so himself. Sure, about half of it sucked and was exactly the sort of shoddy work you would expect from a bunch of teenagers who neither cared about nor appreciated classics. But the other half of it had some of the most dedicated artists he’d ever had the pleasure of working with.

He’d always assumed Matthias to be in the former group, but the more he truly observed him playing, the more he realized that couldn’t be further from the truth. Matthias was a performing artist down to the very fiber of his being and it should have been criminal for anyone to try and stand between that sort of passion and its desire.

He frowned when he began to follow that train of thought and immediately snapped his gaze back to the piece he was practicing. There was a chance that he could get a part in the local symphony orchestra, if he tried hard enough. It would be far more enjoyable and better paying than his other prospective jobs. He’d never really sat down and thought about what he wanted to do with his life, beyond besting the people that looked down upon him. Did he want to go into music? It was a possibility.

The bell rang, signaling the end of the day, and Lukas moved to put away his instrument. As he locked the case and stood to leave, a hand grabbed his arm, stopping him in his tracks. He swung around and came face to face with the boy who seemed to pop up everywhere now, “Yes?”

“I- I was thinking that maybe, maybe since you said you aren’t supposed to go home, maybe we could hang out all day?”

“Seriously? Why would you want to?”

“I want to see who you really are, not who I assumed you to be.”

“Okaaay, but don’t you have practice, anyway?”

“You could come?”

“Wouldn’t that be awkward?”

“Some other people show up. Alfred’s brother is usually there. Gilbert’s is too, but he tries- and usually succeeds, but that’s beside the point- to train with us. Determined little kid. Wish I had a brother like that. Except the rules thing. I get enough of that already.”

“Fine, whatever. It’s not like I-”

“-have anything better to do, I know,” Matthias’ smile could’ve outshone the sun, if he tried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here ends the first segment. I don't know 100% where the next segment will go, but you're definitely going to meet Tino, among other things.


End file.
